Posted on 08/01/2017 1:23:31 PM PDT by Red Badger
Scientists at Monash University's Biomedicine Discovery Institute have found a mechanism by which the brain coordinates feeding with energy expenditure, solving a puzzle that has previously eluded researchers and offering a potential novel target for the treatment of obesity.
Obesity - a major risk factor for many diseases including cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, liver disease and several cancers - is at epidemic levels in Australia.
Researchers from the Metabolic Disease and Obesity Program have shown in laboratory models that feeding controls the 'browning' of fat, that is, the conversion of white fat, which stores energy, into brown fat, which expends it. Fat in the human body is stored in specialised cells called adipocytes, which can change from white to brown states and back again.
Their study, published in Cell Metabolism today, shows that after a meal the brain responds to circulating insulin, which is increased after a rise in blood glucose. The brain then sends signals to promote the browning of fat to expend energy. By contrast, after a fast, the brain instructs these browned adipocytes to once more convert into white adipocytes, storing energy. These processes help prevent both excess weight gain and excess weight loss in response to feeding and fasting, meaning body weight remains relatively stable over time.
The researchers showed that the brain's ability to sense insulin and coordinate feeding with energy expenditure via browning is controlled by a switch-like mechanism turned on after fasting to inhibit the response to insulin, repressing browning and conserving energy, and turned off after feeding to facilitate the insulin response to promote browning and to expend energy.
"What happens in the context of obesity is that the switch stays on all the time - it doesn't turn on off during feeding," lead researcher Professor Tony Tiganis said.
"As a consequence, browning is turned off all the time and energy expenditure is decreased all the time, so when you eat, you don't see a commensurate increase in energy expenditure - and that promotes weight gain," Professor Tiganis said.
Previous investigations by the researchers that showed how the brain coordinates white adipose tissue browning attracted considerable attention after it was published in early 2015.
"For a long time, the missing piece to the puzzle was always why this occurs in the body," first author Dr Garron Dodd said.
"We've shown not only why this occurs but also the fundamental mechanism involved. It's very exciting," Dr Dodd said.
The researchers are further exploring the possibility of inhibiting the switch for therapeutic purposes to promote the shedding of excess fat.
"Obesity is a major and leading factor in overall disease burden worldwide and is poised, for the first time in modern history, to lead to falls in overall life expectancy," Professor Tiganis said.
"What our studies have shown is that there is a fundamental mechanism at play that normally ensures that energy expenditure is matched with energy intake. When this is defective, you put on more weight. Potentially we may be able to rewire this mechanism to promote energy expenditure and weight loss in obese individuals. But any potential therapy is a long way off," he said.
Yes, it wasn’t “stapled” per se, they put a band around his stomach to make it smaller and it didn’t do anything. To me it seems like it had the opposite effect, it made him even fatter. How does that work? They give him a smaller stomach and he gets even fatter.
http://people.com/celebrity/chris-christie-undergoes-weight-loss-surgery/
To me the whole secret is exercise, it really is. You can eat as much as you want as long as you exercise. I use to be overweight around 20 years ago and unemployed until a friend of mine needed help with his landscaping business and WOW, it was really bust-your-butt work. In one summer - 3 months - I lost around 60 pounds and I was eating MORE during that whole time. Since then I’ve never gone back. If a person goes jogging 3 or 4 times a week 3 miles each time, that person will never be fat and they will feel a million times better. Everything is better, the circulation is better, the brain functions better, you have no stress in life, exercise is so so so freakin’ important it’s not funny, it’s a necessity. We were built for it in the hunter/gatherer days. When a person doesn’t exercise, the body assumes the person is sick so it shuts down.
The problem, I believe, is that Chris Christie did NOT get his stomach “stapled”. There are several different weight loss surgeries, and Christie got the lap-band surgery. The lap-band surgery can be very effective — for people who are mildly-to-moderately obese. I have a friend who performs the surgery and she said that people who have struggled to lose and keep off 30 to 50 pounds are excellent candidates for this surgery. (She also thinks people who struggle with as few as fifteen or twenty pounds should consider it because it is reversible surgery.) In any case, Christie has a much more serious weight loss problem, so the lap band is not for him.
P.S. Believe it or not, Chris Christie used to be even fatter. look up that photo of him walking with President just after Hurricane Sandy. Yikes!
>>Really? What the hell happened? He certainly wasn’t like this in High School. <<
I am sure many of us got more rotund, starting in our 30s.
I was skinny as a rail and could ravage buffets when I was in HS and college.
Suffice it to say I am not compared to rails lo these many decades later.
It's called Insulin Resistance and it's not a diabetic thing.
Insulin makes you fat. 1 to 2 pounds per year as we get older and voila...obesity.
The book "The Obesity Code" is an excellent read and explains it in detail. Using IF (intermittent fasting) is the answer. It allows the body to "reset" and break the cycle.
My diet is not one that would be considered anywhere near a junk food or unhealthy diet. But eating normally every day keeps the pressure on as far as the insulin production in the body and the glycogen production. Yet, I've been unable to maintain or lose weight. Over the last few years I've gained 14 pounds. I plan on reversing that by using IF. It's been going well so far.
But...I did see what Christie was chowing down on at that ball game and I think he may have a serious refined/processed carbohydrate addiction. Thus, the girth.
Call me an electrician, stat!
CC
If this is true, the whole diet industry is doomed!..........
Marie Osmond will be unemployed!........................
They put a band around his stomach?
The Rolling Stones?........................
Did you catch his latest pic where he’s getting in a constituent’s face at the ball park—while holding a big bowl of nachos?
So THAT’S why I’m fat?.....Okay, I’ll tell my wife. She thinks it’s because I eat too much cake and ice cream and stuff like that..............
MY EYES!!!!................NEED BRAIN BLEACH!.............STAT!...................
How does he have any kids with a gut like that? How does SHE find it?
What about after a 6-pack of IPA?
Look at that face then imagine what his unclothed butt looks like.
I just scared myself, I may never sleep again. :-(
We just need to find the Bean Switch and our energy needs are solved.
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